How to Publish in Scholarly Journals
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UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLISHING PROCESS How to publish in scholarly journals elsevier.com/authors Save time organizing and writing papers Download Mendeley for free mendeley.com AW_A4_POSTER--v2.indd 3 07/04/2017 15:29 UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLISHING PROCESS How to publish in scholarly journals CONTENTS 1 Introduction .................................................................... 4 2 Find the right journal ..................................................... 5 2.1 Introduction ............................................................... 5 2.2 Journal Finder ............................................................ 5 2.3 Journal metrics ........................................................... 5 2.4 Open access options .................................................. 6 3 Prepare your paper ......................................................... 7 3.1 Your manuscript ......................................................... 7 3.2 Language quality ........................................................ 9 3.3 Illustrations ................................................................ 10 3.4 Enrich your article ...................................................... 10 3.4.1 AudioSlides ......................................................... 10 3.4.2 Graphical Abstracts ............................................. 10 3.5 Adding data ................................................................ 11 3.6 Ethics .......................................................................... 11 3.7 SEO your article ......................................................... 11 4 Submit and revise your paper ......................................... 12 4.1 How to submit a paper? ............................................. 12 4.2 Peer review ................................................................. 12 4.3 Article Transfer Service ............................................... 12 4.4 Check the status of your paper .................................. 12 5 After acceptance .............................................................. 13 5.1 Article in press ............................................................ 13 5.2 Proofing ..................................................................... 13 5.3 Share Link & offprints ................................................ 13 6 Copyright ......................................................................... 14 7 Promote your work ......................................................... 15 7.1 Share your paper ........................................................ 15 7.2 Be discovered online .................................................. 15 7.3 Conferences ................................................................ 15 7.4 Social media ............................................................... 16 7.5 Scholarly collaboration networks ............................... 16 7.6 Media relations .......................................................... 16 8 Montor your impact ........................................................ 17 8.1 Introduction ............................................................... 17 8.2 Mendeley Stats .......................................................... 17 8.3 Article metrics ............................................................ 18 9 Why publish with Elsevier .............................................. 19 9.1 Introduction ............................................................... 19 9.2 Innovation .................................................................. 19 9.3 ScienceDirect ............................................................. 19 9.4 Scopus ........................................................................ 19 9.5 Mendeley .................................................................... 20 10 Further information and training .................................. 21 10.1 Publishing Campus ................................................... 21 10.2 Authors’ Update ....................................................... 21 10.3 Postdoc Free Access Program .................................. 21 UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLISHING PROCESS | HOW TO PUBLISH IN SCHOLARLY JOURNALS 3 UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLISHING PROCESS How to publish in scholarly journals UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLISHING PROCESS How to publish in scholarly journals Introduction | 1 As researchers, you make huge strides in advancing essential knowledge. Your achievements can save lives and improve the way we live. If you’re ready to share your knowledge with the world, this booklet outlines the best opportunities for publishing your research – and for seeing it shared globally. The first question to ask yourself is, ‘do I have a story to tell?’. Editors and reviewers look for original and innovative research that adds to their field of study, or immediately impacts patient care. This means that your conclusions must be sound and based on sufficiently robust data. Secondly, ask yourself, ‘is there an audience for my research findings?’. The more original and innovative your research, the more people will be interested. Consider whether your research is of interest to a local, regional or international audience. Identifying your audience is a major factor in selecting the right journal to submit your manuscript to. You can read more about selecting a journal in section 2.2. There are severalelsevier types of research.com/authors articles: 1. Letters and rapid or short communications are intended for the quick and early communication of significant or original advances, without including too much data or detail. 2. Review papers summarize recent developments on a specific topic, without introducing new data. 3. Full articles contain significant data, detail, developments and outcomes. 4. Research elements enable you to publish research output, such as data, software, methods, videos and much more, in brief, citable articles. If you’re unsure which type of article to write, discuss your options with your supervisor or colleagues. For the purposes of this booklet, we offer guidance for writing and publishing a full article. Once you’ve decided to write a full article, follow the guidelines of your chosen journal, and the general guidelines for scientific writing outlined in the following sections. UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLISHING PROCESS | HOW TO PUBLISH IN SCHOLARLY JOURNALS 4 Find the right journal | 2 2.1 INTRODUCTION Finding the right journal for your article can be key to reaching your target audience. • Take into consideration the type of article you’d like to publish (full length, letter, review, research output). • Check the references in your article, to give an indication of possible journals of interest. • Read the journal’s aims and scope on the journal homepage on elsevier.com. • Read or download the journal’s Guide for Authors. • Check if the journal is invitation-only; some journals only accept articles after inviting the author to submit. • Check the journal’s performance for review and publication timelines (see 2.3). • If you need to publish open access, remember that most Elsevier journals explain their open access options on the journal homepage (see 2.4). • Submit your paper to only one journal at a time (see 3.6, on ethics). 2.2 JOURNAL FINDER The Journal Finder tool locates Elsevier journals that most closely match your abstracts. An Elsevier journal will be recommended if it has published articles that are highly similar to your article. A list of relevant articles is generated, and the tool can filter on your preferred criteria, such as open access options, journal metrics, review time, acceptance rate and production time. See journalfinder.elsevier.com. 2.3 JOURNAL METRICS Journal metrics are at your disposal to help you select the most appropriate journal for your article. When used alongside information about the journal’s scope, editorial board, international outlook and audience, they can help you to find the best destination for your research. Different types of journal metrics It’s good practice to look at more than one metric to help you make your decision. You’ll find a dedicated Journal Insights section on many of the journal homepages on elsevier.com, giving information about the journal’s: • Speed – review speed and online publication time • Reach – geographic location of corresponding authors and journal usage • Impact – impact metrics based on citations received by articles Citation-based impact metrics The average impact of all the articles in a journal is often used as a proxy for the impact of a specific article – especially when the article hasn’t yet had time to accumulate its own citations. It’s important to take this kind of proxy metric into consideration. UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLISHING PROCESS | HOW TO PUBLISH IN SCHOLARLY JOURNALS 5 The Journal Insights section on the Elsevier.com journal homepage has several impact metrics to be aware of: CiteScore* SNIP SJR Impact Factor Full name CiteScore Source-Normalized Impact SCImago Journal Rank – per Paper Measures Average number of citations Citations relative to average Average prestige per Average citations received in a calendar year by all for discipline; SNIP > 1 publication, depending per publication items published in that journal means journal is cited on the SJR of the citing in the preceding three years. more than average for field journal Accounts for varying Y Y Y Y journal size? Accounts for varying N Y Y N behaviour between disciplines? Availability CiteScore, SNIP and SJR are available on Scopus and can be accessed freely